Sadist return as a four-piece, replacing their bass player and adding a singer. Musically, this isn't too far away from their debut album _Above the Light_ (which is also excellent), but the better production and the increased variation makes it sound that way on first listen. I guess describing this is a "more twisted version of _AtL_" wouldn't be too far from the truth, but there are other differences as well... Their main metallic sound is very reminiscent of middle-era Coroner, both production-wise and in terms of riff composition. Since their new bassist uses a fretless at times, some of the sections sound like something from Death's _ITP_. However, they rely on this metallic sound less frequently than on _AtL_, and probably only a little more than half of the album. The rest is filled with various metallic and not-so-metallic feels, including a few jazzy parts, a neoclassical section, a progmetal guitar solo, and a couple of sections with organ and drums only (as Cradle of Filth did in "Summer Dying Fast", but evoking a different feel here). The strangest track is "The Ninth Wave", which features no electric guitar, but is as aggressive as any of the other tracks. The music changes very fast, virtually never dragging on, and many of the repeated sections aren't repeated verbatim, but rather recur in a (slightly) different form. The playing is very good, but seems simpler than on _AtL_. It also sounds a little bit loose: not sloppy, but not mechanically precise either. This is unfortunate, since this style really screams out (to me) for precise (and flashy) playing. It's really too bad that this album is on such a small (and dishonest, I've heard) label as Rising Sun Productions, as it's bound to be one of my favorite albums of 1996.